[io9]Scientists invent 3D microscope lens

Ohio State engineers have made a single microscope lens that is capable of capturing enough angles to form a 3D picture of a object. Soon there could be an all-paramecium version of Avatar. For a long time, on screen, in pictures, and in a lab, two dimensional images were enough. One angle gave people all they wanted to know about a subject. They could imagine the extra dimensions. Then 3D technology came into play, and flat pictures weren't enough. But in order to capture an image in three dimensions, people needed to take at least two different images of it at the same time. To see the world in three dimensions, the human brain takes the slight variations seen by the left eye and the right eye and constructs one picture. In order to render things in three dimensions, movies have to re-construct that variation.

Neat!
Btw going to post two links as some of you are having trouble with links